First of all lets define a couple of terms.  A credit report is a history of payment data maintained at the National agencies of Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian.  A credit score is an interpretation of your credit report at a period in time.  

     Different scores for different reasons.  You can only get a true FICO score from a lender (banks, credit unions, auto finance companies, etc.) VantageScore, a competitor to FICO, is offered via the Web.  So a credit report pulled from such Internet sites as myfico.com or annualcreditreport.com are not true FICO scores, but guestimates based on their modeling.  For example, true FICO scores range from 300-850, while web based scores range from 501 to 990.  So a website may score you at 700, when in fact the score may be below the true FICO average.  The FICO score is made up of the following:

1. 35% Payment History
2. 30% Balance Owed
3. 15% Length of credit history
4. 10% Type of credit in use
5. 10% Number of Inquiries on your credit

Now how to improve your score.  Of course paying bills timely helps.  Controlling balances outstanding is another as exceeding more than 50% of a revolving credit limit (credit card) hurts your score.  Variety of credit is good, such as a mortgage loan, term loan, and revolving credit versus just revolving credit and no collateralized debt.  Inquires also hurt the score by as by as much as 5-15 points when you shop for rate for such things as a mortgage or auto, and then wait 30 days and repeat the process.  The FICO model thinks you have bought two homes or two autos.

     Do I close credit as I consolidate?  It is certainly a myth that closing trades helps your score.  Truth is do not close nationally branded VISA or Mastercard.  Lets say you hold four credit cards with each having $5k credit limits, and one of the cards has $4k outstanding.  The model as described says you have utilized 20% of your outstanding credit limit.  If you close the three cards with no balances, then your credit utilization jumps to 80%, and a big negative impact on your score. 

 Bank Online!

With online banking provided by 600 Atlantic FCU, you will gain easy access to your accounts and view transactions with just a few clicks.  You can do almost everything you need to do online, such as make account transfers, copies of check images, view statements, request cashier's checks to be mailed to your home and more.  Importantly, your accounts are protected with advanced technologies and services including world class encryption and multi-factor authenication.  Call us (617) 973-3760 with an email address an we can set you up instantly as well as convert your paper statement to an e-statement.